Moringa — Planting

Metadata research draftEvidence limits

⚠️ Status: drafted from the metadata-level literature survey (research/moringa/report.md). Values Unknown until source notes (S-####) and full text. Use docs/methodology/units.md (cm, plants/m²). Not cultivation, nutrition, or medical advice.

Production system before planting

• Moringa planting starts with the system choice: household tree, pod/seed orchard, or high-density repeatedly cut leaf stand. Spacing, density, pruning, irrigation, and labor differ by system, and their evidence must stay separate (see index.md).
• Numeric spacing, density, depth, and timing: all Unknown — no values are asserted from metadata.

Seed vs cutting propagation

• Moringa oleifera is propagated both by seed and by cuttings. Evidence: Known for method existence; which method fits each system/cultivar, relative establishment success, and later yield: Unknown.
• Candidates: a history/taxonomy/propagation review (10.21276/ssr-iijls.2019.5.3.7); a diversity/breeding/in vitro propagation review whose title carries promotional language — screen critically (10.3390/plants11223132).

Seed maturity, quality, and pre-sowing treatments

• Seed maturity affects germination and desiccation tolerance (candidate 10.15258/sst.2009.37.3.08) — thresholds Unknown.
• Seed priming for emergence and stand establishment (candidate 10.3906/tar-1103-39); pre-sowing treatments for germination (candidate 10.17660/actahortic.2017.1158.18) — methods and effect sizes Unknown until full text.

Germination and temperature

• Temperature effect on M. oleifera germination and seedling growth (10.15258/sst.2011.39.1.19); a comparative M. oleifera + M. peregrina candidate (10.21608/ejbo.2021.63271.1631) — numeric optima, %, and days Unknown.

Spacing and density × cutting interval

• The strongest thread in the sweep: density × cutting (harvest) interval for leaf systems. Candidates: leaf yield and quality by density and harvest interval in Northern South Africa (10.1155/2017/2941432); biomass by plant density and harvest frequency (10.17660/actahortic.2017.1158.12); cutting frequency × planting spacing (10.17957/ijab/15.0076); provenance × spacing × cutting interval (10.1080/00128325.2018.1511174).
• Results are system- and climate-dependent; no spacing/density number transfers without full-text review and its conditions (see docs/methodology/evidence.md). A clean household-tree vs high-density-leaf comparison is still a gap flagged in research/moringa/report.md.
• Mexico: a Northeast Mexico growth/biomass study exists (10.54167/tch.v10i3.177); region-specific spacing/density recommendations Unknown.

Pruning at establishment

• Pruning intensity, growth, flowering, and fruit development were studied under sub-optimal growing conditions in Gauteng, South Africa (candidate 10.1016/j.sajb.2019.11.033) — intensity, cutting height, and timing Unknown; orchard vs leaf-stand training differs by system.

Planting dates

• Sowing/planting windows by region and Mexico frost exposure: Unknown — a priority full-text/extension question.

Scope boundary

• Papers applying moringa leaf extract to other crops are not cultivation evidence for moringa and are excluded. Medical/therapeutic literature is outside this dossier.

Structured-data impact

• Feeds planting and management of data/crops/moringa.yaml: propagation_methods, seeding_depth_cm, spacing_cm, row_spacing_cm, density_plants_m2, seeding_rate_g_m2, germination_days, production_system, cutting_height_cm, harvest_interval_days.